Selcuk, Turkey (Post #45)
Hello vacationers!
This is Michele and today is Friday, September 2nd. I say “hello vacationers” because I imagine many people are traveling and vacationing in the states. I would guess that Labor Day is coming up and the end of summer is probably near. Turkey is quite warm. Unlike Eastern Europe, where it rained quite a bit, Turkey has been 90 degrees everyday.
Yesterday we took a tour of Troy, which most people associate with the Trojan war and the Odyssey. I finally understand what the nine cities of Troy are all about. Basically, there were nine cities called Troy, one built on top of another after each one was destroyed for various reasons. We got a guided tour which was great because the guide explained the significance of the various sites to us.
We are now in Selcuk, Turkey, which is a town of about 26,000 people. You really get a feel for what Turkish life is like here. Although there may be a few tourists, it is not one of the tourist spots. Now that we are in Turkey we hear the call to prayer 5 times a day for Muslims who pray at the mosques. This morning I had the traditional Turkish breakfast which consisted of cheese (sort of like feta cheese), meat, olives, tomatos, cucumbers, eggs, and bread with jam and honey. Here is a picture of where we eat. Notice the hookah pipes. You can use these to smoke sweet tobacco after your meal. (Sounds gross to me!)
Our place is pretty good for a hostel. We have our own bathroom and we are paying the extra 2.50 US dollars per day for air conditioning and it is well worth it. Another thing about Turkey is that it is a mix between conservative and Western attitudes and dress. You see many women wearing head scarves but you also see younger people in tank tops. Only the tourist women wear shorts. I have been wearing a skirt because yesterday Mike and I gave our laundry to a lady to do. In Turkey (and many places in Europe), you send your laundry out. There is no such thing as a laundry mat where you put coins in to wash your clothes. So, our laundry is with the laundry lady right now and should be delivered later today. We will be walking around the town shortly and will be mildly harrassed by each shop owner. This is just how it is in Turkey. It helps greatly that I am with Mike and wearing this long skirt and short sleeve shirt. Still, each store we walk by someone will say, “Hello…where are you from? I have good deal for you today.” Or (sticking a menu in our face), “hello we have fresh meat, wonderful kebab” etc. I do not mind this. I find it interesting and know that it is how these business men make money. O.k., I will sign off now and am going to look up some things about Malta, which is our next country. We will be in Selcuk for 3 days before moving on.
Bye!
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Tags: Category #13 Turkey
Michele Harmon
I was wondering if you’ve gotten any sense of hostility at all so far, just walking around Turkey. I realize that the vast majority of people there prolly couldn’t care one way or the other, and most of those who DO care are prolly happy to have the foreign money come into the economy. I just wondered if you guys caught people scowling at you or something like that. My Iranian girlfriend wanted to fly me out to some beach town in Turkey, but i wouldn’t have felt all that comfortable doing that.
Well, stay safe and out of trouble. I don’t wanna hear about how you guys inadvertantly bought a ancient relic, to subsequently be jailed for ‘smuggling’ it out of the country. Twenty years in a Turkish prison would be less than fun. Fun > Turkish Prison. Other prisons would be fine though.
Have you heard of the problems back here in the States? Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans and areas in Miss. Many thousands of people have been left homeless, and rescue operations initially seemed to have come at a snail’s pace. All the survivors will have to be eventually relocated, maybe even to other states. For the time being, a number are being housed in various sports stadiums, such as the Houston Astrodome. Meanwhile, the price of gasoline has skyrocked. Locally it is over $3 a gallon with some price gouging going on. One station in Centerville, for example, was selling gas for over $5.00. The gasoline issue, as you might expect, will have an impact on the “vacationers”.
Hi again. We were interested in your tour of Troy. Is it still a city or more like an archaeological site? If a city, is it still called Troy? I admit that I would have had no idea where the city (Helen of Troy, etc.) was located.
We have not noticed any sense of hostility. Most of the Turks we have interacted with have actually been very friendly. Unfortunately, in many of these cases it is because they want to sell us some good or service (including “shoe-shining” my sandals! for which i paid 2YTL. he actually wanted me to give him 4YTL which is about 3 USD. as you might guess, my sandals looked the same after as they did before.)
Troy is an archeological site not a modern city. There were actually 9 cities at this same site. Each one built direcly on top of the one before.